Note: Citations are based on reference standards. However, formatting rules can vary widely between applications and fields of interest or study. The specific requirements or preferences of your reviewing publisher, classroom teacher, institution or organization should be applied.

The pun also rises : how the humble pun revolutionized language, changed history, and made wordplay more than some antics

A funny, erudite, and provocative exploration of puns, the people who make them, and this derided wordplay's remarkable impact on history. The pun is commonly dismissed as the lowest form of wit, and punsters are often unpopular for their obsessive wordplay. But such attitudes are relatively recent developments. In The Pun Also Rises, John Pollack--a former World Pun Champion and presidential speechwriter for Bill Clinton--explains why such wordplay is significant: It both revolutionized language and played a pivotal role in making the modern world possible. Skillfully weaving together stories and evidence from history, brain science, pop culture, literature, anthropology, and humor, this is an authoritative yet playful exploration of a practice that is common, in one form or another, to virtually every language on earth.--From publisher description.Read more...

Cutting it up : the anatomy of a pun --
Labs and retrievers : how the brain fetches meaning from sound --
To pun or not to pun : the risible fall of puns through time --
Riddles of history : how puns conquered human imagination --
More than some antics : why puns matter.

Responsibility:

John Pollack.

Abstract:

A funny, erudite, and provocative exploration of puns, the people who make them, and this derided wordplay's remarkable impact on history. The pun is commonly dismissed as the lowest form of wit, and punsters are often unpopular for their obsessive wordplay. But such attitudes are relatively recent developments. In The Pun Also Rises, John Pollack--a former World Pun Champion and presidential speechwriter for Bill Clinton--explains why such wordplay is significant: It both revolutionized language and played a pivotal role in making the modern world possible. Skillfully weaving together stories and evidence from history, brain science, pop culture, literature, anthropology, and humor, this is an authoritative yet playful exploration of a practice that is common, in one form or another, to virtually every language on earth.--From publisher description.